Second Love
by BecauseHeroesNeverDie
Summary: Alexa and the crew have reached land! Her first day is rather eventful. She meets Demitri. Does Alexa love something more than adventure? Will she be forced to chose between?
1. The adventure begins

The wind whipped at Alexa face, tossing her lenghtly, dingy blonde hair out behind her like a banner. They had been at sea for months. Once they had cleared the foggy waters, the ocean had become a vast length of clear blue-green. It was beautiful and filled Alexa with wonderment at its depth and color,  
but so far it was, to be quiet frank, dead boring. Then a farmilar sent of earth and pine hit Alexa straight on.

She scanned the horizon and to her pure amazement, and absolute exietment, was a large land mass. They were aproatching it fast, and the others must have seen it already, but that didn't put a stopper on her joy at the possibility of a great adventure.

She had a great love of adventure. Finding new places, meeting new people and seeing new things, solving ancient riddles and mysteries, finding hidden passages and chambers. The thought of all this made her bounce up and down anxiously.

"LAND!!!!!!!" She Shouted, as she ran across the deck. "Yipes, Roland! Land!"

"Calm down, Alexa!" Roland smiled. "We should be docking in about an hour or two. We'll stay about a week to get supplies and some rest, then we head out again!"

"That's it, can't we explore or at least look around a bit?" Alexa asked.

"You can if you like, I guess. Just don't go too far off by yourself." He returned still smiling. His niece was funny, he thought, he father would have said the same thing. Alexa was just like him.

"ALRIGHT! I can't wait till we dock! This is going to be great!" Alexa bubbled over the top with exitment. She was going to twich almost as badly as Murphy till they reached land.

She wondered what this new land would be like. Would there be a lot of people, and towns?  
She hoped there would be some kind of people there. She had learned that some places worked very differently than her home.

Would there be kingdoms, and villages, and castles, and fields and cities, and shops? How did the people of this place live? Alexa shook her head to clear it of the complete chaos the thoughts of adventure had brought in. What would happen next? She let the exietment take over. This kind of chaos (the thoughts of adventure) she liked. She sucombed to the exietment and let the world of daydreams that had ruled her childhood take over. She stared into the distance and then up at the sky.

The sky was painted with hues of golden orange, pale pink, and bloodly scarlett.  
It was beautiful. So beyond words, beyond all thought, Alexa just stood there, staring up at it. What a wonder it must be to fly!

Wished she could just jump into the sky and glide away. In her mind's eye she could see herself floating away into that world of colors, floating on the wind, like one floats on water.

"Alexa, Alexa! ALEXA! Stop daydreaming and help us with the sails and ancohor"  
Yipes's voice broke into Alexa's far-away sky world. It took Alexa a few seconds to figure out what yipes was talking about.

"Coming!" She called back, heading over to help out.

We're here! New land! Her mind shouted at her. Five-thousand bolts of pure adrenaline pulsed through her. She broke into an energetic run.

"We're HERE!!!!" 


	2. What next?

Alexa bounced on the balls of her feet, nervously attempting to stay still as the three of them (Yipes, Roland, and, obviously, herself) docked the Warwick Becon. But she found herself increasingly filled with energy the closer they came to reaching this unfamilar land.

Well, it was unfamilar to her, at least. She knew what a seasoned seaman Roland was and how casually he'd talked of this place,just to get supplies and go. She was pretty sure he'd been here at least once before. Alexa made a mental note to ask him in the next few days what he'd seen and done during his last time here.

Alexa glanced over to Yipes. He was just as extatic as she was, bouncing up and down as he made sure everything was in check. It was good to know somebody was as euphoric about this...this expedition as she was. A relife to know she wasn't just over-reacting over something quite insucnificant.

The day almost completely died away, the bloody embers of sun only barely remaining to their backs.  
Besides the faint splattering of colors caused by the dying day, the rest of the sky was night-black. But, despite this, the way in front of them was brightly illumanated.

Lights of some sort dotted, what looked like a rather large city. It was a dazzling sight. Sparkling pin-pricks of light sillouetted against the endless darkness of the night sky. Alexa gasped. This city had to be three times the size of Bridwell. The lamps illumanating the dark streets seemed to streach to the end of the world, the uneverse, even.

A familar feeling flooded Alexa. The feeling that the world held endless possibilities. That, no matter how far you went, there was always somewhere to go, something to see. The world seemed truely limitless. This wonderment tingled inside Alexa, pumping and courcing through her veins. It filled her so much, it wasn't just a shallow feeling...it was her. Part of her blood, part of her soul.

Roland let down the rope ladder, it's end meeting the dock with only a meter or two left to jump down.  
Alexa almost burst with the adrenaline throbbing inside her.

Roland looked over at her and grinned.

"Go on ahead, Alexa," he smiled warmly.

"YEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!" Alexa cried out. It wasn't like her to get this exieted, but...

She plunged over the edge, clinging onto the ladder as she leapt. She scurried down the fraying rope ladder all the while staring at the city ahead. She cast one uncharacteristically wistful look back at the dying day on the horizon. The Land of Elyon..it was so far away now. She had an odd sensation as she hurried down the ladder. It filled her with dread, mixing with the exitment and almost drowning it in this odd feeling. What if she never saw her cherished old home, again? She had a feeling she would never see the shores of Elyon's island in the sky for the rest of her days. 


	3. The First Meeting

Alexa stared like a, three-year-old, in wonder. What a grand place! 

She walked down the streets, past venders, and shops, and restarants, and carriges. These weren't new to her, but it seemed they had a new, different air about them. She bounced and twittered, gawking at this and that. She looked into a shop window and gasped.

She was supprised at herself. She'd seen dresses her whole life...but wow! This one was far prettier than any she'd seen. It had a high, white lace collar, a skirt that went out just so (anything that had a diameter larger than two feet was ridiculous...just plain stupid), it was a beautiful mid-morning ocean sky blue, with lacey sleeves, and the most amazing gold embroidery.

Alexa giggled, this was so--so un-Alexa-ish. She didn't look at clothes, she had adventures! But, it was hard not to become mesmorized by the dress's enchantment. She stared a moment more before atempting to break such a powerful bewitchment, as a glorious dress is. She broke through it supprising speed (for she'd figured it would take much longer, so powerfully was she enraptured).

The girl soon turned to her old self and was laughing at how idiotic she supposed she'd looked like. An image of herself with her jaw flat on the ground plastered itself in front of her vision and she laughed harder. She turned around, living the dress to intice some other poor person.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glaced a slip of paper potruting from the sleeve. She caught the number 200 and then some sort of symbol that was absolutly foriegn to her. Her mind quickly corrilated it with the other symbols she'd seen on the carts.

She spun on her heel, set to explore this place some more.

"Stupid dress," Alexa muttered to herself. She quickly realized, once her sane, consious self had come back to the surface, that she had wasted time that could have been better used for exploring. Now, because of that ricidulous distraction she wouldn't get to see as much of this large, wonder-filled city. She would have imursed herself in this self anger at her absolute stupidity, but that would only wast more time. Alexa cocked her head up toward the sky---almost evening.

"Ahhhh, wasted day...usless day..." She half-fumed, half-sighed. She began to walk down the crowded street, toward the Inn Roland, Yipes and herself would be spending the night. After all the nights of sleeping in uncomfortble hamocks hanging from the cabin's ceiling, Roland figured they could all use a nice few nights in warm cozy beds. He knew this would make Alexa and Yipes whine all the more later, but...for the time being it was worth it to have a good rest.

There she went again. Lost in her mind. In that amazing land of dreams and adventures only known to her. Her own private place. Alexa's Place.

She didn't see where she steped as she slid dreamily across the street.

**Crash!!!!!!** Alexa fell to the ground as she smashed into another person on the street. He picked himself up and brushed himself off. Then he held out his hand to help clueless Alexa off the cobble stoned street. When she was up, he smiled at her and then started laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" She asked. It sort of irritated her to have somebody she didn't even know laughing his head off at her. Then again, laughter is quite contagious. She found herself laughing at nothing at all, really.

"Well, the streets of London aren't any place for daydreamin'. Trust me on that one. One time, I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I almost got ran over by a carrige." They laughed again, at his own expense this time.

"So,-- who-- are---you? I'm---Ale--xa Daley!" She introduced herself between laughes, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Dimitri Collin." He said with an accent Alexa had just noticed. Did she have an accent to them? She supposed she sounded rather different than he did, she knew that.

"Nice to meet you!" She smiled.

"Nice to meet you, too!" He returned shaking the hand she'd been holding out.

"Well, I should be going on my way. I'm staying at the Inn a few streets back and I'm probably expected back." Alexa commented casually looking at the darking sky.

"Yeah, best not to dawdle. London isn't the same place at night." He replied.

"Well," he sighed. "Best be on our ways. I hope to see you again. Good-bye"

"Good-bye." She stood there and after a few minutes, she walked away, to the Inn.


	4. Talk of Adventure

Alexa Daley awoke, not to the cheery bright sumshine she awoke to often in her seaside home of Lathbury, but to gray sooty fog that clung to the cobblestones of the dreary streets of London.

She stared around at the generic hotel room. A rickety old bed, a small mirror hanging upon the wall, and a simple dresser. It wasn't much, but it sure beat lying in a hamock every night.

Alexa pulled herself out ot bed and walked out of the room. She didn't have any extra clothing with her, so she slept in her regular day clothing.

She quickly desended the stairs and threw open the front door of the Inn.

"Good morning!" A voice called to her. A familar figure stood on the street in front of the steps. He smiled. Dimitri.

"Good morning!" She greeted him joyfully.

"What are you doing today?" He asked.

"Probably just looking around again." Alexa answered. She began to walk down the road towards who knew what (she'd gone the other way yesterday). Dimitri followed only slightly behind her at first, then quickened his stride to walk beside her.

"What did you do where you came from? What was that_ Land of Elyon_ like?" Alexa was supprised he remembered the name, and said it the proper way.

"You probably won't believe me.." she trailed off, unsure of whether to tell her story or not.

"What kind of story? Any good adventures?" He asked.

Ahh, someone who enjoyed a good adventure. Exactly Alexa's kind of person.

"What would I be without a grand adventure to be had or an intessting book to read?" Alexa laughed. She began to tell him her story.

It was only slightly abridged, parts she didn't remember in entirety were pulled out. Since she remembered most of it, very little was shaved off. Still, telling the story was a time-consuming thing, taking about an hour of walking and talking.

She tried to keep every detail crisp, every sentence a living thing. Every piece vital to the living being that was her tale.

"And, there you go," Alexa sighed, finishing off.

"That is unbelievable! How fantastilc!" He looked exieted, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. "You make my life look like the dullest thing in the universe, compared to that!"

"What do you do?" She asked, curious. His life couldn't be so boring.

He began to tell her of his day to day life. Schooling and friends.  
His parents owned a prominent company, and he could get his hands on almost anything he fancied. He used this power to gain himself adventure books of all kind. True or completely derived from the imagination of a brillant writer, his shelves were filled with books of all kinds. His friends and family were constantly acusing him of having his head way up in the clouds. And, they were right, he loved nothing more than to dream of adventures and stories of grandeur and of hard times and poverty. His mind wandered to so many places. He knew of all the explorations of the world and one day wished to travel, but it was a constant worry in his mind that he'd be facing the gritty, uninteressting streets of London for the rest of his days.

"Well, that's it," he sighed, finally closing the explanation of his life. Then they disscussed adventures they'd read of and history and world afairs. It all came easily. Each explaning the ways of their homes and debating over the better ideas and goverments of each one.

They'd walked along the streets talking for a long time. The day was fading away.

"Hey! Can you come to a party at my friend's house tommaro?" He asked."You could really make the conversation more interessting! They don't think women are all that smart, and once they hear you speak they'll never think the same way again! So, what do you think? Would you like to come?"

"Sure!" Alexa answered. "When is it?"

"I'll pick you up at about noon. That should be fine." He answered.  
"I guess, I'll see you then! Good bye!" He ran off, like a happy little kid, jumping as he stepped.

Alexa laughed and ran back to the hotel, smiling to herself.


	5. Finally over!

"Alexa, wake up." Roland shook her violently by the shoulder. She was sleeping luxuriously upon a feather bed in her comfortable hotel room. This comfort was something she was not in the mood to leave at this hour of the night. Or, at least, she supposed it was night as no light was sliding out of the flimsy lacy curtains hanging over the faintly grimy window glass.

"What is it?" She groaned drowsily.

"We have to leave." Her uncle whispered urgently by her ear. "We can't stay any longer."

"Why?" Thoughts of Dimitri's party flashed to her mind. She didn't want to let him down. Also, Alexa would have liked to have spent more time in this unusual city called London.

"I'll explain on the way." His voice begged for her to ask no questions. So, she didn't ask any.

She sullenly gathered her things and walked to the ship. The sky was royal blue, though there was a glimmer of gray light on the horizon. The gas lamps, which burned away slowly at their fuel, glowed softly, lending light to the cobbled streets. Light poked out of buildings and the night life dragged on, oblivious to her passing.

There was obviously no time to give Dimitri a proper goodbye. She dare not even ask permission to try. It wouldn't work. They hadn't known each other long, anyway, so, it would not have mattered to him anyway.

Alexa climbed up upon the rope and heaved herself unto the _Warwick Becon. _A childish feeling of grandeur spread through her. Her first commitment was to adventuring. There was nothing else for her. Nothing quite so rewarding as this glorious euphoria. She was a wandering type of person. There is no other life for those who long to search the earth and sail the seven seas than to do it.

**_My little Author's corner: I had to finish this. I know the ending isn't very pleasing, but that's it. I think it has a faint air of closure, if anything. _**


End file.
